> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Crimes of the Art - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/crimes-of-the-art-24/ - Published: 2015-08-04T19:14:06.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T15:47:02.000Z - Description: On this week’s art crime blotter: A €25-million Picasso painting is seized aboard a superyacht, the designer of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games logo is accused of plagiarism, and a hitchhiking robot is destroyed. - Author: Benjamin Sutton - Tags: News, Art Crime, Crimes of the Art, Olympics, Pablo Picasso, Vandalism, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2) ![The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games logo by Kenjiro Sano (left) and the Théâtre de Liège logo designed by Olivier Debie (right) (graphic by the author)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/crimes-art-tokyo-olympics-logo.jpg) The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games logo by Kenjiro Sano (left) and the Théâtre de Liège logo designed by Olivier Debie (right) (graphic by the author) [*Crimes of the Art*](http://hyperallergic.com/tag/crimes-of-the-art/) *is a weekly survey of artless criminals’ cultural misdeeds. Crimes are rated on a highly subjective scale from one “Scream” emoji — the equivalent of a vandal tagging the exterior of a local history museum in a remote part of the US — to five “Scream” emojis — the equivalent of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist.* ## Tokyo Olympic Logo Gets Gold Metal for Plagiarism ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-3](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-3.jpg) Designer Kenjiro Sano’s logo for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is [suspiciously similar](http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002322906?ref=hyperallergic.com) to Belgian designer Olivier Debie’s logo for a theater in Liège. While Sano issued a statement on the accusation saying, “I have no particular comment to make,” Debie says he is “consulting with a lawyer.” **Verdict:** Debie makes [a compelling case](https://twitter.com/OliDebie/status/625982341429788672?ref=hyperallergic.com) for plagiarism, but the sad truth is that no Olympic logo will ever surpass [the Mexico City summer games of 1968](http://graphicambient.com/2012/07/26/1968-mexico-olympics-mexico/?ref=hyperallergic.com). ## Greedy Gallerists Get Ghost ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-4](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-4.jpg) Donald Smith and Emma Poole, the former proprietors of Opus Art, a gallery in Stow-on-the-Wold, are [accused](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/andy-warhol-and-damien-hirst-dealers-investigated-as-buyers-left-with-nothing-10433972.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) of selling off their business and retiring to France while leaving unpaid debts of more than £500,000 (\~$780,000) owed to artists and collectors. The Gloucestershire Police is investigating the couple and recently raided the gallery’s storage space. **Verdict:** Smith’s prior involvement with Eyestorm — a gallery that owed Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Helmut Newton, and others thousands of pounds when it went under in 2002 — should probably have raised some red flags among Opus Art’s prospective buyers. ## Hitchhiking as Dangerous for Robots as It Is for Everyone Else ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-5](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-5.jpg) The Canadian hitchhiking robot hitchBOT, equal parts psychological experiment and social sculpture, was [destroyed](http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/hitchhiking-robot-lasts-just-two-weeks-in-us-because-hu-1721544551?ref=hyperallergic.com) in Philadelphia two weeks into its journey around the US. A [video](http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/heres-video-of-the-jerk-who-killed-hitchbot-1721797093?ref=hyperallergic.com) allegedly showing the robot’s destruction at the hands of a man wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jersey has since been revealed to be [a fake](http://factually.gizmodo.com/vloggers-faked-a-surveillance-video-but-did-they-destr-1721980896?ref=hyperallergic.com), making its creators prime suspects in this act of wanton robocide. **Verdict:** Do androids spend the afterlife in electric clouds? ## Clandestine Picasso Caught in Corsica ![A tweet by French Customs showing the Pablo Picasso painting seized from Jaime Botín's yacht, "Head of a Young Woman." (screenshot by the author)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/picasso-customs-crimes-art.jpg) A tweet by French Customs showing the Pablo Picasso painting seized from Jaime Botín’s yacht, “Head of a Young Woman” (via @douane\_france) ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-4](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-4.jpg) French customs officials boarded the superyacht of Spanish collector Jaime Botín — whose family was involved in the founding of the Santander bank — while it was moored in Corsica and [seized](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/04/picasso-superyacht-spain-export-ban-customs?ref=hyperallergic.com) the €25-million (\~$27.2 million) Pablo Picasso painting “Head of a Young Woman,” on which Spain had placed an export ban and which Botín was allegedly trying to ferry to Switzerland illegally. **Verdict:** Didn’t Botín realize Switzerland is landlocked? His superyacht smuggling scheme would never have worked. ## Pop-up Show Damaged in Deinstall ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-2.jpg) Artist Ian James’s work, which had been on view in a donated, vacant space in Houston, was [damaged and destroyed](http://glasstire.com/2015/08/03/kerfuffle-over-damaged-art-at-houston-alternative-space/?ref=hyperallergic.com) when the organization taking over the space after his exhibition closed deinstalled the work improperly. **Verdict:** Even shows in free spaces deserve professional deinstallations.